“We are deprecating and removing the Location History feature, an API that allowed Cortana to access 24 hours of device history when location was enabled,” reads Microsoft's announcement. The API behind the feature, 'Geolocator.GetGeopositionHistoryAsync', provides apps with locally stored data that had been collected by location services in the previous 24 hours. Microsoft announced the deprecation of the Location History feature from Windows, which let applications like the Cortana virtual assistant to fetch location history of the device. Users can deactivate the setting completely to block location data access requests from all apps and services. BleepingComputer has reached out to Microsoft to ask about the reasons behind deprecating the Location History API and we will update this post when we receive a response. Device location data is stored locally and the list is only populated when an application or service actively requests it. Once deactivated, users should click the ‘Clear’ button to wipe any location data from the past 24 hours. "Location services collects positions only when an app or services queries for the user's location - but no more than once per second," Microsoft explains. The location services option will also be removed from Windows Settings > Privacy & Security > Location. Bill Toulas Bill Toulas is a tech writer and infosec news reporter with over a decade of experience working on various online publications, covering open-source, Linux, malware, data breach incidents, and hacks.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Mon, 17 Feb 2025 18:55:06 +0000